Soaring Condor Oppohunt Recap

"facw" (facw)
08/24/2020 at 15:34 • Filed to: Oppo Hunt, Oppo rally, TeamSoaringCondor

Oppo seemed like a better choice than Instagram for this writeup (assuming Kinja doesn’t botch the images, which is a real risk). In any event, both to celebrate the fun of the oppohunt, and to get those final 250 points, here’s my recap of the hunt.

Starting with Dusty’s questions:

The Best Part of the Hunt: Honestly for me the best part was just having the excuse to get out and see things. My experience in the past is that it’s way too easy to put off local attractions since you can always go some other time, and then never actually do them (there are certainly things in both NYC and Houston that I should have done while I was living there). The hunt gave me some motivation to actually cross some things off my list (literally and figuratively). For example I’ve lived in Boston for two years and I’ve never done the Freedom Trail, but got the whole thing done on Saturday.

Here’s the Freedom Trail passing in front of the Paul Revere House in an image I didn’t actually use for the hunt:

Favorite Photo:

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Probably this photo of the Mercury Redstone Rocket (Replica) at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discover Center in Concord CT. This was the furthest I traveled for the Oppohunt, sneaking up after work, and the late afternoon sky was amazing (plus rockets are cool). I would take out the traffic sign if I could, but such is life.

Favorite Surprise Scavenger Item: I was hunting solo, so my of my things were planned, though I was certainly happy to find some along the way. The one that made me happiest was this classic (from the same trip as the rocket, while going well out of my way to get a muffler man):

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It’s crappy picture, but I was thrilled to get it. One of the great frustrations of the hunt for me was missing things for the car section because I saw them while driving, but couldn’t take a photo then. This guy however I saw signaling (with his arm) to make a left turn onto a road I was turning right onto. That gave me the opportunity to speed ahead, find a place to stop, and then the photo as he drove by. Made me feel very smart after having missed out on those others (though perhaps not as smart as if I had just put my mascot somewhere my dash cam could see it).

Previously Unknown Place to Revisit: This is a little tricky, I feel like I got good value out of most places I didn’t know about, so a revisit, at least near term, isn’t required. I would like to visit the Mapparium in Boston, a place I learned about because of the hunt, but didn’t actually visit because I wasn’t quite in the right place, and didn’t need the points. I think the best bet for a revisit will be Lowell National Historical Park:

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I didn’t know this was there, and there are lots of things to see there that I couldn’t because I was there after work and everything was closed.

A Place to Recommend to Others in the Area:

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Purgatory Chasm. I’m not sure it’s worth driving long distances as the trails are short, and most of the reservation is just generic northeastern forest, but the chasm itself is quite cool, and quite different than your standard stream cut gorge. I did mess up and not take pictures of the various lame “caves” that are basically just small openings where boulders fell against each other, but that seems to be what the rest of the caves in the greater Boston area are as well, so I should have just grabbed one for those points. In any event, if you find yourself between Worcester and Providence, it’s definitely worth a visit.

Most Frustrating Item: A car with special doors. I had immediately flagged this one that could be easily, if cheaply, fulfilled by the Model X (I’d say Dusty should have said “a car without normal doors” instead of “a car with non-traditional doors”, except I know oppo well enough to know what would just get him a bunch of Jeeps with the doors off). I had seen a Model X in the building garage multiple times, so I thought this would be simple. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that Model X since the hunt started. I saw plenty on the roads, but wasn’t having any luck finding them parked. I did finally see one stopped along the Charles River esplanade in Cambridge on Saturday, but I couldn’t park there, and there was a cop stressing me out on where to park, and I missed my opportunity (and also was so discombobulated about where to park to get a Model X that I made a wrong turn that sent me over the Longfellow bridge, requiring some backtracking). I thought I had one on Sunday, but the door handles were wrong, and sure enough it was a Model Y, the first I’ve seen (this was abundantly clear when they lowered the hatch, as in addition to the Model Y badge, they had a Model Y license plate frame, and Massachusetts vanity plate “Model Y”). In any event, it probably would have been a lot less stressful to just swing by the local Lambo dealer and hope to see something there.

Other thoughts: This was a lot of fun, especially after having been cooped up from COVID and moving. Nice to get out and see things again!

I basically made seven trips of various lengths to get stuff (these could have been way more optimized), one in a far loop to the west and south, one shorter trek to the southwest, one to the north into New Hampshire, one cutting south, two to collect local items (basically staying one town away most of the time), and one into central Boston. I suspect with more optimal planning, this could have been done in five trips without adding much time to those five, but it enjoyed it either way.

Some other photos I liked:

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Anyways, thanks for reading! And thanks to Dusty for organizing this thing! I’m probably going to do one other post of duplicates that weren’t worth enough for an OppoHuntDoubleDip at somepoint.

DISCUSSION (20)

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > facw
08/24/2020 at 15:42

Awwww you went to battleship cove without me

OPPOsaurus WRX > facw
08/24/2020 at 15:43

I work right around the corner from the Airbase. My brother-in-law volunteers on the USS Salem. We go there when we need to press his Camry’s bearings out of the hubs for replacement.

facw > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
08/24/2020 at 15:45

It was a lot rustier than I remember as kid, I think they are struggling. Wouldn’t be surprised if they have to give up some ships so that they can focus on USS Ma ssachusetts. Also there were very few volunteers or visitors present (presumably due to COVID) , so it was a neat experience to be able to wander around on the ships, essentially alone.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > facw
08/24/2020 at 15:49

I really enjoyed our visit to New Hampshire a few years ago. My wife’s family live near Manchester (Goffstown) to be specific. Retired engineers and neat folks. I like that there is more “history” there than the west. Everything around here was built in the 1900's, while in new hampshire we were in legit buildings built in the 1700-1800's.

facw > OPPOsaurus WRX
08/24/2020 at 15:50

After trying and failing to visi t the Salem last year I was itching for a rematch. The entrance location is much clearer now (I’m pretty sure they’ve moved it again). It is actually in better shape than I was expecting, especially considering the sad state of things at the much more famous Battleship Cove.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > facw
08/24/2020 at 15:51

I agree. It was so much fun to get out of the house with an actual purpose and the sense of competition kept it fun even if getting some items could be a bit discouraging. It led me to places I never otherwise would have visited or taken note of.

For me, the Krog St Tunnel proved too elusive. I like the idea of mapping your items. Since for half the hunt I’ve been confined to walking distance from my dorm my locations haven’t been terribly spread out. But since I was walking 45 minutes instead of driving 45 minutes to get an item I think it still required lots of effort. If I had a car it would have been a 5 minutes drive and 5 minutes of parking to get them, which wouldn’t have been as fun.

facw > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
08/24/2020 at 15:53

Yep. I stopped for a couple things in Manchester, though only one was submitted for the Hunt (a Playplace, so not exactly drawing on the long history of the city). But I love all the brick factories of those 19th century mill towns (granted it’s probably a lot nicer to be around them when they are offices and lofts instead of loud, smokey machines of industry)

facw > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
08/24/2020 at 15:56

Yeah, it would be a lot harder without a car. Granted there were some I walked to, and I could have taken the train into Boston for more (I drove instead because 2 hours between trains and not running all the way into North Station was too much to deal with, especially during covid times). But I think the most important thing was just getting out to see neat stuff.

facw > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
08/24/2020 at 16:00

Oh and to be clear I’m not quite organized enough to map everything out, though I did do some of that. The map is from my Google Timeline, which just happens to show most places where I stopped long enough to take a photo.

TheRealBicycleBuck > facw
08/24/2020 at 16:03

Nice write-up! I have to admit that I’m super jealous of that biplane photo.

How did you go about making the map?

TheRealBicycleBuck > facw
08/24/2020 at 16:06

T hat’s one of the fantastic things about the U.S.S. Kidd. They offer overnight stays onboard the ship and while you are there, you basically have free run of the public areas on the whole ship.

facw > TheRealBicycleBuck
08/24/2020 at 16:08

I was really pleased with the biplane as well. And pleased to find a biplane at all. I also have pictures of it taxiing and rolling away during its climb, but I liked this one as it captured the huge plume of smoke it let out on takeoff.

The map is my Google Timeline map for August, which seemed good enough. I’d really like to overlay the Timeline daily maps for the days I was hunting, as that would show routes as well, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do that. Regardless, while I find Google tracking my every movement since 2012 a bit creepy, I also find it pretty cool, so here we are.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > facw
08/24/2020 at 16:10

I could have taken the MARTA (subway) to very near Krog St but I am pretty busy with school. It made more sense to walk there because of how many things I could get on the way, but my feet were telling me not to walk the extra .5 miles to Krog St from Oakland. I tried to do lots of stuff while I still had a car and was living carless in a place where you are more likely to see certain categories than in the middle of the largest city in the Southeast.

Basically the car scene here is donks, lots and lots of bikes, WTF modded crap cans, and loud muscle cars. Not somewhere where you are likely to find a well preserved classic. The car scene is pretty rooted in the city’s heritage of music. In particular rap, though lots of famous musicians have spent a lot of time here.

I’m also not the most organized with it, though I annotated a printed out copy with possible locations and highlighted each category that I thought I could get. I will probably still make a map because that sounds fun.

TheRealBicycleBuck > facw
08/24/2020 at 16:24

I once wrote a python script to pull the EXIF data off of photos and process it to create lat/long data for use with a database. I’ll have to see if I can find it again. There’ s a way to map the photos on the phone, but it’s limited to apple maps.

Poor_Sh > facw
08/24/2020 at 17:29

Cool! And thanks for the help lol

vondon302 > facw
08/24/2020 at 17:36

The car ones drove me nuts when driving solo so many angry doritos seen but not one counted. I did, surprisingly get a overabundance of running prewar cars so I used this for non traditional doors.

Kinja'd!!!

Great write up and nice shots.

facw > vondon302
08/24/2020 at 17:40

Pretty sure I didn’t even see a rotary. Don’t know if I got unlucky or if salt + safety/emissions testing is just a bad combo for them up here in MA. Or if there just aren’t many left in general.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > facw
08/24/2020 at 19:19

I’ve been to Battleship Cove a bunch of times starting in 5th grade when I lived in MA. Later when I moved to RI we’d head up there in the boat. I’ve yet to get to see the USS Salem; that’s a bit of a ride from southern CT.

facw > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
08/24/2020 at 19:47

I’d recommend seeing it when you get a chance, it seem perpetually on the verge on folding, which would probably mean a trip to the shipbreaker, even though it’s a unique artifact. People might step up to save a ship like Olympia, but is the Salem people can’t make it work, I don’t think the ship is going to get a reprieve.

DancesWithRotors - Driving Insightfully > facw
08/25/2020 at 02:51

I got super lucky and found a minty FB on the first day I was in , while running to grab dinner after a long day on the road with my partner.

I’m still jealous of whoever owns that car. It’s hella sweet.